May 31 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s consumer defense agency
released a list of 500 goods whose prices will be frozen from
June 1 as President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner struggles to
stem the region’s second-fastest inflation.

Under an accord between the government and supermarkets,
including Carrefour SA, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Chile’s
Cencosud SA, which runs the Jumbo, Disco and Plaza Vea chains,
prices have been fixed for goods ranging from cooking oil to
sodas, cereals, wines, hair removal wax and beer, according to a
statement posted on the agency’s website.

Fernandez, 60, last week ordered officials and supporters
to monitor stores to ensure the accord was honored in a campaign
called “Watch and Take Care.” While the government says
consumer prices rose 10.5 percent in the 12 months through
April, private economists estimate the increase at 24 percent,
according to a monthly inflation report released by opposition
lawmakers. Venezuela, where prices rose 29.4 percent in the 12
months through April, has the fastest inflation rate in South
America.

“We agreed on goods that are commonly used,” Juan Vasco
Martinez, manager of the country’s Supermarket Association said
in a telephone interview. “At the same time we have reached an
accord with industries to ensure supplies.”

In February, Argentina’s supermarkets agreed with Interior
Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno to freeze prices for 60
days, a period that was later extended to four months.

IMF Censure

Economists have questioned the country’s official inflation
data since early 2007, when Fernandez’s late husband and
predecessor Nestor Kirchner changed senior staff at the national
statistics agency. In February, Argentina became the first
member of the International Monetary Fund to be censured by the
lender for not providing accurate data. The government has fined
economists as much as 500,000 pesos ($94,591) for releasing
inflation figures that were different to those published by
agency.

Moreno defended official data on May 7, saying the
country’s real inflation rate was that released by the agency.
The government has said it will introduce a new index by the end
of the year that reflects changing consumption habits.

Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri today said the
capital will soon start to publish its own consumer price index,
calling the government’s price data a “lie”. The city index
will track more than 600 goods and 60,000 prices, he said.

“There’s no other country that lies on its statistics or
persecutes technicians who try to tell the truth,´´ Macri told
reporters.